Happy Solstice from the PCV! June featured a beautiful Solstice Ritual alongside the usual meetups and mayhem.

PCV Yule Ritual

By Dean

On Sunday the 18th of June, the Druids of Silver Birch Grove ADF (Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship) hosted a public and inclusive Winter Solstice ritual in collaboration with the PCV. I thought it might be a good idea to write a little bit about the ritual for posterity…and this blog. After all, I just so happened to be the one who led that ritual.

Druidry tends to draw together those with a more Celtic inclination and emphasis on nature. ADF encourages it’s members to explore one or more of the related Indo-European hearth cultures. As a practioner of both Ásatrú and ADF Druidry it was only natural that I would write a ritual for Yule bringing together Norse traditions in the context of an ADF ritual. Yule is a favorite High Day for me and is one of the most jolly and sacred times of year: the Norse New Year.

The weather was cool but a clear day. We were fortunate to have 20 attendees, from a diversity of paths, backgrounds and walks of life. We formed a procession into the circle of stones, surrounded by the sacred grove, with the rhythm of Geoff and Mel’s drums. We gathered around the cairn of stones, with a guided meditation as the creek flowed over the rocks nearby. We followed the ADF core order of ritual, hidden in plain sight within a pocket of urban bushland. Heimdall warded the ways as the gate keeper, Bragi was implored for inspiration. By a good fire, a silvered well and a sacred tree we welcomed, honoured and gave gifts to Jord (the earth mother), the ancestors, the land wights and the Gods. Our deity of the occasion was Skadi, fierce goddess of winter, the mountains, the wild, archery and skiing. I told an ancient myth of her time with Njord by the sea. I had carefully crafted an arrow from fragrant mountain cedar wood and knapped an arrowhead from some bluestone I found on a trail in the Hills. I carried the arrow around the circle and past the altar as the drums intenaified and cast it into the fire as a sacrifice. Others than made their own offerings, inclueding Mark’s carefully made Yule goat. Sad to see such pieces invested with such time and care turn to flame and smoke, but that was part of the point after all.

The spirits were thanked and merrily the ritual drew to a close. The drums sounded once more as the procession left the circle. Afterwards there was a festive picnic feast as people enjoyed and afternoon of conversation and laughter.

Monthly Hills Coffee Meetups

By Sarah

The July Hillsmeet was quieter than June’s with only 19 people showing up for the shenanigans, and frankly, we are so happy and proud to be able to say that “only 19 people” came to our monthly gathering (and all of them are lovely, too – what are the odds?) because that’s a lot of pagans, and we’ve been talking about having to open our own cafe, because we end up building a shanty-town of tables in Earthly Pleasures and the staff are so nice about it but honestly we make their cafe look like the aftermath of The Tetris Wars. It’s great that we’re still growing, and that the EP staff have said they actually look forward to seeing us each month, despite the havoc we wreak upon their lovely venue, because we may be the weirdos mister, but it turns out that the weirdos are awfully nice.

This month, we had the added bonus of a gifted tarot reader who kindly offered free readings for those interested and shared some very useful advice with a young student (and some of us not-so-young folk who also have a lot to learn), the usual exchange of gifts, because witches like sharing books, plants, nice jars, stuff we’ve made, and interesting things we found at the op-shop (note: prospective newbies, this isn’t mandatory, it’s just a nice organic thing that’s sprung up as part of the group, and it’s just become inevitable that *someone* will show up with a bag and hand it to someone else with a “oh, I saw this and thought of you”, or “here’s some of that lemon balm I promised you last month”).

It’s always rather nice watching the conversations eddy and flow around the table; there are usually two or three going on at any given time, with vastly different topics that seem to be able to be brought together when someone up one end of the shanty-table arrangement catches a snippet of something down the other end, and you get the whole group being drawn into a conflation of Druidic medicinal plants and protection charms, and weird housemate stories, the history of wooden wheel construction, and that time someone left jam out for a ghost (you all know who you are).

We also saw two of our regulars level up in the writing department, with one now published by The Wild Hunt blog as their Australian correspondent, and another published in the ADF’s international journal, Oak Leaves. Congratulations Josie and Dean! Richly-deserved recognition for your work and your expertise. We are really lucky to have such a diverse and talented group.

Once again I forgot to take photos (I did it last month; you can’t expect me to be organised two months in a row, surely); fortunately Dean took some lovely shots of a magpie who wanted to come and hang out with the cake-eating pagans.

The next gathering is on Sunday, August 6th, from 12pm. Come along. There will be cake.

This article by PCV Committee member Luca was originally published in our old newsletter, Spokes of the Wheel (volume 2 issue 5, Yule 2015). Photo by Kylie Moroney photography.

“Deep beneath the shade and power Of this tree we call our tower Day is fleeting, shadows fall Across this path our feet touch all”
-Charge of the WildWood

T o this I must confess, Wildwood witchcraft is a rather recent current of witchcraft. It came into being late 2006 through four young men when a “call out” was sent by one of the founders of Wild-wood seeking like minded individuals who might be interested in exploring pagan faith together and delving into the mysteries that witchcraft holds. A covenant was formed between these four but soon other witches from the surrounding area began to congregate and celebrate the moon and sun under the banner of “WildWood”.

The earlier members of Wildwood began to recognise this strand of witchcraft as its own beast. This was noted when one of the founding members branched out and carried the seed of Wildwood him to form his coven in England. At that time something affectionately nicknamed the “yewj” (the usual setup) became fully formed. The “yewj” being what had used to be a somewhat basic neopagan framework but had rather organically grown and evolved as had its participants.

Wildwood has since expanded, branched out and thrown its seeds to every possible passing wind with our witches now based in Australia, the Netherlands, America, England and even a witch or two in Japan.

Through its enigmatic beginnings Wildwood has thus become a definition of eclecticism, having drawn inspiration, vision and learning from Greco-Roman mystery traditions, English folk-lore, published Wiccan material, indigenous European shamanic practices and paradigms, Italian witchcraft, Luciferian and heretical witchcraft, historical witchcraft trials, the Reclaiming tradition of witchcraft and Celtic druidism. A few of the many authors who’ve had an influence on the members of Wildwood and our practice are Doreen Valiente, Dion Fortune, Starhawk, Robert Cochrane and Charles Godfrey Leland.

I remember hearing a member of our community succinctly describe Wildwood as a “Earth based, ecstasy driven, mysterytradition”. To pull it out of a romanticised and poetic context and put it into layman’s terms it can be broken down into three parts.

Firstly, “earth based” refers to our belief that the land itself is inherently sacred, that nature in all its guises and masks is the honest face of God Herself and that the earth itself is worthy of our protection and adoration, both practically and magically.

Secondly, “ecstasy driven” refers to the sorcerous practices and skills employed within our tradition, fetch-flight, possession and oracular seership not being seen as taboo (although we often pride ourselves as taboo breakers) but accepted and explored.

Thirdly, “mystery tradition” eludes to our tradition’s framework as well as our relationship with greater mystery; the otherworld being seen as the heartland of the witch. The framework of Wildwood can be broken down into an inner and outer court, inner being comprised of Dedicants and the Priesthood and the outer court being filled with Aspirants.

One thing that separates us from other mystery traditions is our actual lack of hierarchy, Priest/esses not having authority over Dedicants and Dedicants not having authority over Aspirants. The journey from Aspirant to Dedicant to Priest/ess being viewed largely as a journey inwards and into mystery, with certain names and mysteries being withheld from aspirants on the basis that without a context, these mysteries would mean nothing.

Our tradition, though young and fresh, makes brave strides forward, misstepping at times though always picking ourselves back up and dusting off with as much grace and tact as a bunch of cackling witches can do. We accept people from all gender expressions, sexualities, capabilities, races and walks of life and we never charge for the education, training and initiation of Wildwood witchcraft.

As a member of the Wildwood tradition of witchcraft and a rather recent resident of Melbourne, I look forward to being more present and active within the Victorian Pagan community.

The AGM for the Pagan Collective of Victoria will be taking place on the 20th of August 2017, 12pm at the Last Jar in Melbourne. This will be followed by a general committee meeting and the CBD Pagan Pub Moot.

Nominations are now open for President, Secretary, Treasurer, Vice President and Community Liaison Officer – a new position for 2017. We are also seeking nominations for general committee members. To nominate yourself or someone else for any of these roles, please email your nomination to: pagancollectivevic@gmail.com

Before you send it, make sure your nominee is aware that they are being nominated, and that they agree to it! 🙂 Nominees should also make themselves familiar with the Model Rules of Association, and the PCV Committee Roles, both available on our website.

NOMINATIONS CLOSE AT MIDNIGHT ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 13th 2017.

All PCV members are eligible to nominate and be nominated. Nominees must attend the AGM in person.

So many of us use incense in our homes and in ritual. There is something wonderful about watching a piece of resin bubbling away on a piece of charcoal and the room slowly filling with fragrant smoke.

The majority of our resins, gums and woods that we use in our incense blends are sourced from all over world. If you work with the local land or simply want to save some money you with want to try your hand at Wildcrafting.

Wildcrafting is the practice of getting out into your local forest, bush land, parks and gardens or even your own backyard and foraging for plants and herbs that have a practical use. With the goal of incense in mind you will be after plant resins.
Resins are produced by trees to help cover their wounds. Some of these resins release fragrant smoke when heated.

Tips for collecting Resin:

We never want to harm a tree with our collecting so look for mature trees where the resin has become firm if it is still sticky and wet you want to avoid collecting the resin.

Resin come in various colours, from white to amber to dark reds and browns. Look carefully over the tree. Older resin is often very difficult to spot.

A small knife (we use a butter knife) is a really simple tool for loosening the resin off the trunk.
There are so many trees that produce fragrant resins in Australia – you really are spoiled for choice! European trees in Australia are a good starting place: Pine and Cypress are especially fragrant. You could also spend years collecting resins from the large range of abundant Eucalypts.

Wildcrafing incense is fun and free, and it’s a great activity you can do with a few friends. Get out there and start collecting!

Ryan McLeod

This article originally appeared in our old newsletter, Spokes of the Wheel (volume 3 issue 2, Mabon 2016). Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Take a peek and what your intrepid PCV committee have been nerding out on this month.

Animism: Respecting the Living World by Graham HarveyAn interesting work that examines what animism is and how it plays a part in the lives of people and how they interact with the world around them.
Harvey explores the different definitions of animism, both positive and negative to help establish a brief history of the word and its usage before he delves into the pagan and new age views of animism.
He also spends quite a bit of time explaining why it is important to use the word animism instead of seeking a new title for it. In a nutshell to reclaim what he outlines as a mostly negative connotation associated with the word.
He does explore animism in several indigenous cultures around the world as well as those in the pagan paths, it makes for some interesting reading and at 212 pages is an accessible length exploration.– Mark

Circlework by Shan/House of the GoddessI was lucky enough to find this in a secondhand bookshop recently. It’s one of the older books on pagan practice, published in 1987 by House of the Goddess in the UK, and it’s a lovely zine-style book, typed (rather than typeset), with the page numbers and chapter-headings hand-written, and lovely hand-drawn illustrations throughout. I’ll confess right now to an absolute weakness for publications like this, so I snaffled it up with barely a flip-through because it felt nice to hold.
It turns out this was a good decision, because it’s a beautiful book, written in a warm, informal, encouraging voice, with gentle, practical humour and a twinkle in the eye, as well as sound and meaningful ritual advice. It’s a beginners’ book, so don’t expect to go summoning the Elder Gods afterwards (because, you know, that’s what *all* the Advanced Paganism For Fancy Witches books teach you, right?); it’s more like a lovely one-on-one chat with a knowledgeable, wise, and understanding High Priestess. Honestly, I think every pagan’s library needs a few books like this and it’s a shame this one is kind of hard to find. If you can get your hands on a copy of this, do. It’s a valuable piece of Craft history, and it contains things like these “other examples of Pagan Law”:

– Sarah

Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon by Stephen R WilkThis book is written in an accessible, conversational style, and like many conversations the author frequently goes off on odd tangents. These tangents are fortunately interesting and likewise entertaining, but they are substantially numerous.
Although the evolutionary path of myths is explored, it’s still a fairly dry, academic text which doesn’t delve far into speculation about meaning or cultural significance.
Well researched and mindful of the notorious fallibility of some ancient sources, it’s a thorough exploration of an enduring myth which continues to abound in popular culture today.– Dorian

Secret Places of the Goddess: Contacting the Earth Spirit by Philip Heselton
This is a lovely meditation on finding sacred and magical spaces in nature. Heselton, author of the recent, excellent biography of Doreen Valiente, walks us through some of the sacred spaces of his homeland, whilst exploring the history and nature of sacredness in the landscape, how to engage with sacred space, how to take from them and how to give back to them. He explores woods, glades and groves, streams, springs and the sea, hills, boundaries, liminal spaces. He devotes chapters to the different times of day, the wheel of the year, how we experience nature through our senses, how to cast a circle outside, how to tend and care for sacred spaces.
The text is peppered throughout with well-chosen and evocative quotations from other authors, both pagan and literary; far from being simply a “how-to” book, this is a love-song to Nature and to the connection to the divine that we find when we open ourselves to Her. It is both personal and instructive, and while it is UK-centric, Heselton’s approaches and philosophies are all applicable to interactions with our local landscapes. This is a book I will keep coming back to; it’s rich and profound and a pleasure to read.
– Sarah

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
I was really underwhelmed by the recent TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s classic, American Gods, so last month I decided to revisit the novel itself, along with several others of a similar ilk.
Small Gods is one of the lesser known, lesser appreciated standalone Discworld novels. It tells the story of the acolyte Brutha and his adventures with the great god Om, whose power has dwindled so much due to lack of belief that he has been reduced to the form of a cantankerous one-eyed tortoise.
At surface level, this novel is an excellent parody of mainstream religions. Going deeper, I love the discussion of the nature of belief, religion and the gods themselves that Small Gods, along with Gaiman’s American Gods and the Pratchett/Gaiman masterpiece Good Omens, welcomes. That it’s done in Pratchett’s usual quick-fire, cerebral style is an added bonus.– Josie

Yule 2017

By Dean

On Sunday the 18th of June, the Druids of Silver Birch Grove ADF (Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship) hosted a public and inclusive Winter Solstice ritual in collaboration with the PCV. I thought it might be a good idea to write a little bit about the ritual for posterity…and this blog. After all, I just so happened to be the one who led that ritual.

Druidry tends to draw together those with a more Celtic inclination and emphasis on nature. ADF encourages it’s members to explore one or more of the related Indo-European hearth cultures. As a practitioner of both Ásatrú and ADF Druidry it was only natural that I would write a ritual for Yule bringing together Norse traditions in the context of an ADF ritual. Yule is a favorite High Day for me and is one of the most jolly and sacred times of year: the Norse New Year.

The weather was cool but a clear day. We were fortunate to have 20 attendees, from a diversity of paths, backgrounds and walks of life. We formed a procession into the circle of stones, surrounded by the sacred grove, with the rhythm of Geoff and Mel’s drums. We gathered around the cairn of stones, with a guided meditation as the creek flowed over the rocks nearby. We followed the ADF core order of ritual, hidden in plain sight within a pocket of urban bushland. Heimdall warded the ways as the gate keeper, Bragi was implored for inspiration. By a good fire, a silvered well and a sacred tree we welcomed, honoured and gave gifts to Jord (the earth mother), the ancestors, the land wights and the Gods. Our deity of the occasion was Skadi, fierce goddess of winter, the mountains, the wild, archery and skiing. I told an ancient myth of her time with Njord by the sea. I had carefully crafted an arrow from fragrant mountain cedar wood and knapped an arrowhead from some bluestone I found on a trail in the Hills. I carried the arrow around the circle and past the altar as the drums intensified and cast it into the fire as a sacrifice. Others than made their own offerings, including Mark’s carefully made Yule goat. Sad to see such pieces invested with such time and care turn to flame and smoke, but that was part of the point after all.

Our ash tree Yule log burned on the fire. The altar decked in Yule decorations of pine, holly, white winter flowers and the last of autumnal oak leaves, held a statue of Skadi, the grove treasurers and the sun chariot. I gathered my runes to take the omen. Just as I started to turn toward the altar 3 ravens swooped through the middle of the grove and our ritual participants! Surely a sign that our ritual and offerings were well received?

The runes answered with Inguz, Fehu and Teiwaz. A sign that we had been building things up in the last year, that we had been generous with what we shared or gave back and that with sacrifices , we would be successful in the times ahead. A good Yule omen after having gifted some offerings, indeed.

I then led a sumbel rite where guests were invited to make any of the following: a toast in thanks or to ask the Gods, land wights or ancestors, a boast or an oath over the mead horn. Yule is an especially auspicious time for this. There were many fine toasts, boasts and a couple of renewed oaths. Not to mention, a lot of spiced mead!

The spirits were thanked and merrily the ritual drew to a close. The drums sounded once more as the procession left the circle. Afterwards there was a festive picnic feast as people enjoyed and afternoon of conversation and laughter.

At the time I was busy. My concern was for everyone else, the ritual and sacred space. Later I took it all in and reflected on the spiritual experience of it all. I was glad to hear everyone had felt welcome and enjoyed their time experiencing the sacred through the practices of two traditions. It is a humbling but beautiful experience to share your spiritual traditions and sacred practices for others from our Victorian Pagan community.

A seminal text in the development of the modern traditional European tradition and interest in the occult, Mastering Witchcraft is a comprehensive step-by-step guide to a range of useful tools and techniques with some ceremonial magic influences.

Although much of the information isn’t sourced and some of the content may be ethically disagreeable to a few readers, it is nonetheless candid, engaging and easy to follow.
At first some information might seem too outdated to be useful, but a surprising amount of substances such ‘roman vitriol’ (copper sulphate) can actually be found at your local hardware store.

A classic well worth reading for the serious beginner and experienced practitioner alike.

When I was a child I was obsessed with reading supernatural horror stories and the creature that would always capture my attention was the Werewolf; humans who change into animal form through magic and the lust of the flesh of other humans. The Book of Werewolves is the classic work on the lycanthrope and is jam-packed with curious folkloric accounts of murder, cannibalism, superstition and magic and contains all the classic tropes that the Werewolf is now known for.

Sabine Baring-Gould was a Priest and the book was first published in 1865 and rather than believe these accounts are genuine cases of magic, he believes that Werewolf accounts are caused by mental illness which was a enlightened view for a Priest to have at the time.

These two books, written from the 60s to the 80s and published by Llewellyn, are the work of an author more well-known for her poetry and works for children than her witchcraft; in fact, ‘mainstream’ reviews of these two of Worth’s books describe them as fanciful and whimsical works of fiction, written in the style of a bygone era.

Worth, born in 1933 in Pennsylvania, wrote prolifically, and published ten collections of poetry and three books for young people, as well as the two reviewed here. In 1991 she was given the Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children by the National Council of Teachers of English.

The Crone’s Book of Wisdom is a collection of spells, charms and rituals of magic and magical practice. Worth had interests in astronomy, herbal lore, and talismans, and the Book of Wisdom deals with all of these in an envisioning of the Craft which is not situated within any particular tradition (though it contains aspects which will be familiar to those with interests in Traditional and folkloric witchcraft, Wicca/Wiccanate NeoPaganism, and Ceremonial Magick).

Chapters include:
– The Materials of Wisdom, which covers basic plant lore, working tools, robes, balms and tinctures, etc.
– Inscriptions of Power, in which Worth explores the creation and inscription of amulets and talismans,
– Thrice A Dozen Charms – a collection of spells for everything from binding an enemy, to procuring the moon’s aid, gaining immortality, winning love and affection, reveal truth, and break troublesome habits. Her instructions and correspondences are meticulous, and her incantations read beautifully in a combination of Latin and antiquated poetical verses.
– Ceremonies for the Year: twelve rituals for various times of the year, some of which correspond to the eightfold Wheel of the Year, and some which are lunar celebrations.

The Crone’s Book of Words is a collection of poetical spells and incantations. In Worth’s own words from her introduction:

“This book arises from certain premises: that words themselves are a means to emotional control over exterior phenomena; that magic today is the same weapon that it was, even though we lay hands on it in a new spirit, even though we are uncertain of its uses and wield it unwittingly or even unwillingly; that all rituals, ancient and new, spring from the same vision of a possible order to life, an order that heals and reconciles effectively by its very roots in mental process. The rituals, or spells, or poems – and these names can all stand for the same thing – that are set down here deal with aspects of experience at once too simple and too complex for any other approach.”

Worth’s writing is lovely and evocative; the charms and rituals are a pleasure to read, or to inspire a tone for crafting your own.

“White as an eggshell,
White as a bone,
White as chalk
Or the milk of the moon,
Is the written word
Of the ancient Crone,
Who works by wind,
Sun, water, and stone.”

This book is a delight for those that want to live a little bit more sustainably and independently. While not everything in this book is going to work for everyone there is a lot of great information to be had.

The chapter on poultry was a delight as someone who keeps chickens in their yard it was full of nifty tips. While the ideal scale that is aimed at in this book is for properties larger than your standard block, the principals are sound and there are plenty of ideas that could be scaled back or adapted to a suburban property.

The language is friendly and accessible in this book and doesn’t hide behind pretentious subtext. The author wants us to succeed, and that is clear in the way they communicate ideas and structure the book.

This one was recommended by a fellow dabbler in Queer fiction. I was drawn to it because the author is a Melbournian and hey, Queer fantasy. This is the first in a trilogy about the former prince Damen who, after getting betrayed by his brother, is sold into slavery to a neighbouring royal family. Damen is soon entangled in the intricacies of court politics and a play for the throne.

I found muscular, clever, brave and selfless Damen to be something of a Mary-Sue, but his new master Prince Laurent is like a handsome grown-up Draco Malfoy, but twenty times as vicious.

While quite graphic in places, Captive Prince was a good escape. For extra fun, get the Audible version read by the rather pervy Stephen Bel Davies.

I write this on the eve of National Reconciliation Week sitting on land of the Wurrundjeri people of the Kulin nation (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) who were the original custodians of this place and who are still workingand waiting for us to catch up, so that we can reconcile our injustices towards the many nations of this land.

The maxim of Reconciliation Australia is “Reconciliation is at the heart of our nation’s future”.

As witches and Pagans in Australia, we were born, we live, and we practice magic on stolen land. (Some of us migrated here, but we still practice magic on stolen land),

So how do we reconcile that?

We know that the bones of our ancestors older than 200 years are all buried on far flung lands. Most of them in Celtic (and I use that term broadly) or northern European lands. We also know the bones of the ancestors of the people of this land for upwards of 50,000 years lie here in this Southern land.

Many in the Pagan community are humbled by that knowledge and wish to find a way to work toward a deeper appreciation of the past so that healing and true reconciliation can begin. There are some in our communities who are uncomfortable with hearing the truths because they or their familial line wasn’t directly involved with the atrocities of the past- believing we need to move on and stop being ashamed of our past.

Whilst it may be true that we need to move on -it is the privilege of the oppressor that makes us able to say that.

Many of us have growing edges around accepting that we are born of privilege. For no matter how diverse our genders may be, how economically, socially and educationally deprived we may feel, or indeed how hard it was for our parents or our parents’ grandparents to struggle to make it in “The Lucky Country” we still have privilege.

We can acknowledge the mythos of the very hard lives that some of our ancestors had; be they convicts, farmers, merchants, fortune hunters or the religiously persecuted- often economic refugees-all escaping to find a dream where gold, food, amnesty, religious and economic freedom abound-if you work for it.

But we have difficulty acknowledging that even our oppressed ancestors were more advantaged than the Aboriginal peoples of the many lands we now call Australia.

Until we have a deeper understanding of the truth of our past and come to terms with the fact that our recent forefathers and foremothers symbolically, and sometimes literally, were involved in genocide of the original people and the theft of their land and culture, there will always be a skeleton in the closet. It is only our privilege that gives us the luxury to ignore the past.

The notion of cultural non-appropriation is close to the hearts of many members of the Pagan community. It is important that we always acknowledge the people whose land we work on in our public rituals. Some of us have sought permission from elders to practice magic on their lands- which thankfully has always been given.

When we work magic on indigenous land (remembering that all of this land we call Australia was Indigenous land 220 years ago- Terra nullis was and is a myth to ease the heart, minds and legalities of colonisation); we need to be respectful of the people whose land it is. In all my rituals, public and private, I acknowledge the ancestors of this land, as well as the ancestors of blood and the ancestors of the craft.

Indigenous people of this land always proudly state where they were born and where their father’s and mother’s ‘countries’ are. So perhaps we also need to learn to acknowledge our own heritage, where we were born and where our parents were born, using the indigenous name of place if we know it -or researching to find it out. As Pagans we know there is power in a name and power in the spoken word. I believe that when we acknowledge who we are and where we come from with compassionate understanding of our own rich heritage we won’t need to appropriate the culture of a living people.

That being said we do need to build bridges between our communities, but not on our terms. We need to take the time and make the effort to build relationships. Perhaps we need to find an indigenous fund that we can donate a tithing to from any magical workshops we have on indigenous land. Perhaps we need to be prepared to share something of our culture instead of expecting Aboriginal people to be the ones who always share their culture. Perhaps in reconciliation week we could make an effort to recognise indigenous people, or recognise an indigenous person, knowing that Aboriginal people are not recognised in our constitution.

As Australian pagans if we desire a connection with the knowledge and magic of the first culture, we must learn to find a way to align our magic to the magic of this land and to begin to build relationships with Aboriginal people, that are not conditional on what we receive from them.

There is a PCV Committee Meeting on the 5th of March. All are welcome to attend and have a say in the direction of the Collective. An agenda will be published shortly. This will be the meeting that we secure dates for the rest of the year, so please bring your diary. 🙂

Brrr! We hope you’re all keeping warm on these long, cold nights and frosty mornings! We’ve been in recovery mode after the Yule Dinner, but the CBD Pub Moot saw us swing into action once again. 🙂

CBD Pub Moot – We had a rocking good time at the Melbourne Central Lion Hotel yesterday, and the turnout of 20 was far more than we expected! It was lovely to share a drink and discuss our different paths with old friends and new in such a relaxed atmosphere! Thanks very much to everyone who came along!

The first CBD Pub Moot, June 2015. Photo courtesy of Mark.

AGM – There is less than one week left to nominate for the AGM. If you would like to join the committee (whether it’s as a general committee member or in an exec role), you will need to email us before midnight on the 3rd of July. This is a great way to get involved with community building across Victoria, and to have a say in the direction of the Collective. We have only four committee meetings a year, which is not a big face-to-face time commitment!
The AGM itself is taking place on the 18th of July at Stuzzi in Northcote. Click here for more information.

Imbolc – Our Imbolc Ritual will be hosted by Melbourne Reclaiming. A Facebook Event has been set up for it over here.

Hills Coffee Meetup – The next Hills Coffee Meetup is taking place on the 12th of July at the Magpie Cafe, Upwey. Newbies and any/all branches of Paganism are welcome – this is a friendly, inclusive meet-up, and a chance to connect and chat with other Pagan folk on a variety of paths. See the Facebook event page for more information.

Yule Dinner – The Yule Dinner was a fantastic success! We shared a sumptuous meal, laughed and enjoyed some stellar live music. Catching up with old friends and making new ones, we bid farewell to the longest night and looked forward to good things to come.
Congratulations again to the recipients of the 2015 PCV Awards:

Ben F – The Keen Bean Award (for a member under 25 who has made great contributions to the Collective).

Sarah M – The Most Active Member Award (in recognition of Sarah’s support of the PCV since the very beginning, and of her tireless work organising and facilitating the Hills Coffee Meetups).

Kacey – Most Distance Travelled (Kacey came from Adelaide just for us!)

Seline C – PCV Lifetime Membership Award (in recognition of Seline’s long-standing contributions to the Victorian Pagan community, and of her support of the PCV since its beginning).

A huge thankyou to everyone who helped to make the Yule Dinner happen. This was the PCV’s first large-scale event, and its success is due to the many people who worked tirelessly behind the scenes.
Thankyou to Mark H and Belinda L-J for the beautiful photos! There will be even more up on the website shortly. Hugs, gratitude and wishes of safe travel to Kacey, who flew over from South Australia to share his wonderful music with us. Thanks also to Mei and Mark for the decorations and party favours! A big thankyou is also needed for River, Nickole and Sarah, who helped us promote the event to their wide networks of contacts. And finally, thank you to everyone who came along on the night! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
There have been a number of photos from the night published in the Yule newsletter. We will have a full set of photos here on the website in coming weeks. 🙂

Newsletter – The Yule newsletter is out now. As well as photos from the Yule Dinner, it includes a summary of the results of the members’ survey, and article about the Wildwood tradition and more. Members, please get in touch if you didn’t receive your copy. 🙂

Pagan Collective of Victoria

Meeting Minutes 21/2/2015

Present: Ryan, Josie, Mei, Mark, Sarah, River, Nickole

Apologies: Cosette, Bret, Brett, Hawthorn, Lisa, Fiona, Seumas

Absent: Rosanne, Allison

Meeting Location: Magpie Cafe, Upwey

Meeting Open: 1.17PM

Presidents Report – The collective hit one hundred members this month, that’s really exciting given how long we’ve been running. The coffee meet ups have been going fantastically, with lots of new faces young and old.

Secretary’s Report – Due to some issues with the stickers for the membership packs the posting out of membership packs is slightly behind. The new stickers have now arrived and look great, so we can resume sending out membership packs to everyone again.

Treasurer’s Report – The incoming and outgoing for the collective has still been $0, everything has been donated by Josie and Ryan so far. The collective bank account hasn’t been set up yet, however with no immediate income expected there isn’t an urgent need. Josie and Ryan will set one up with the Bendigo as previously agreed, it will be a standard not for profit account.

Memberships – 47 new members have been approved for the Collective

Newsletter – As always we are looking for people to write new content for the newsletter, submissions will be the 14th of March and hopeful send out will be the 21st. Mark volunteered to look into writing an article.

Coffee Meet Ups – The coffee meet ups have been successful with good attendance, lots of diversity of attendees and amazing levels of enthusiasm.

The potential of a metro meet up was proposed with Sarah offering to help Ryan get it up and running and provide advice. The specifications/concerns people had were that the venue was not too loud/busy, that topics of discussion were provided each meet up and that it didn’t clash with the times Melbourne Pagans in the Pub meet up.

The action decided was that Ryan and Sarah would attempt to get one running before next meeting.

The possibility of a Central Vic meet up was raised with a few locations suggested – Hepburn Springs, Bunninyong and the Botanical Gardens in Ballarat.

The action on that was that Josie, Mark and Mei will look into setting up a meet up before next meeting.

Sarah raised the problem of exposure for the meetups, Facebook Pages and Groups struggle to make it into newsfeeds under the current format. The solution decided was that if people could try and like and share events to help everyone reach a decent audience it would be greatly appreciated and help ensure the success of the events having a good turnout.

Samhain Ritual 2015 – Selene is available again for Samhain Ritual, the dates will be discussed with her as well as what she requires (bring a plate?, materials, etc.).

Yule Dinner 2015 – The venue that looks best from the research Ryan did is called The Last Jar, it is located at the Carlton end of the CBD so is fairly accessible. It has an upstairs function room they would be willing to let us use. The food would allow for a vegetarian option that would also cover vegans.

Ideally the collective would need 30+ attendees to make it worth The Last Jar’s time.

The date for the dinner was tentatively set as the 13th of June with the venue being The Last Jar.

Awards to be decided on for giving out at the dinner, examples – most distant member, most active, young persons award, daggiest witch etc.

River has offered to help promote the event.

A sub committee consisting of Ryan, Josie, Mei and Mark was formed to meet a few times before the dinner and continue working on the event. The first sub committee meeting was scheduled for March 14th.

Members Survey – The survey for the collective was discussed with Mark presenting the brainstorming for questions ideas that occurred between meetings. People were happy with the proposed questions and added a few more to the list.

It was proposed that a breakdown of the survey information be published (all members details to be kept confidential of course) because there would likely be interest in how our community looks as a demographic.

The membership survey was approved and Mark and Mei will to set it up, a link to it will be sent out once it is up.

Changes to committee – Charlie T’s official resignation was given to the committee and accepted.

AGM – The collective needs to hold an AGM mid year, the date the committee decided was the 18th of July at 1PM and the proposed venue (TBC) was Stuzzi. Nickole offered to book the venue.

The offices up for vote will be President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary. Again general committee positions will be available.

Proposed Membership Fees for 2016 – So far the collective has run as a free organisation, however running the organisation has costs and these have been getting covered by Josie and Ryan. A comparison of other groups fee structure and services was looked at and the breakdown of predictable costs for the organisation were discussed. The categories of membership were proposed as singles, joint/family, Interstate and International. The exact costings will be decided after more research into the issue and cost of insurance.

Insurance – Josie needs to talk to a few more people about the possibilities and costs for insurance and present the findings to the committee.

Dates – Dates for the remainder of the 2015 meetings were discussed with the following outcome:

Sat 9th May 1PM (city, venue TBC)

AGM Sat 13th June 1PM (Stuzzi TBC)

Sat 12th September 1PM (rural, venue TBC)

Sat 12th December 1PM (Cafe Magpie, Upwey TBC)

Imbolc Ritual 2015 – The date for Imbolc is tentatively the 1st with the venue proposed as the Darebin Parklands.

Annual Ball – Sarah proposed the idea of an annual ball, with the proposed first one being in 2016. The idea of it being at Samhain with a suitable theme was suggested as the tentative date.

The ball will be an adult oriented event with music, dressing up and drinks (licensed venue).

Sarah will check with Philippe and Selene to make sure they do not have an issue with a ball running at that time and to ensure no clashing with events they host.

Meeting Locations – The proposal that there be more CBD meetings was raised by River. Sarah volunteered to look for a suitable city venue for the next meeting, everyone agreed to let her know if they heard of anywhere suitable in the meantime.

Skill Sharing Across the Pagan Community – Nickole discussed the idea of skill sharing across the community and the possibility of workshops being organised (and better promoted). Possible workshop topics would be skills, ritual, spell and traditions. With the idea of making it more accessible for people to gain cross tradition knowledge and skills.

It was decided to wait until the survey results are in to see what sort of traditions members follow and if there were people willing to run workshops and share skills before more action is taken.

PCV Crafts – Mark proposed the idea that the PCV start to assemble bunting to have at events it was at, to give more exposure but also as a community exercise. It was decided that bunting will be made up, blank and taken to meetings, coffee meet ups and other events where members can grab one to decorate in a fashion that reflects them or their path, with the final product being returned to us and being attached to the community efforts. Hopefully this will be a nice reflection of the positive community that is in Victoria and will look fantastic at events such as Mount Franklin.

Misc. –

It was proposed and accepted that the PCV logo should be made up into a digital pack that is available for use in a variety of formats -jpeg, gif, black and white/grayscale etc. This will make it easier for other people that want to promote the PCV.

Earthsong will send a details pack to the PCV so they can receive advertising through the collective.

To ensure the community (PCV is fine but if you feel ok with it sharing other groups too it would be fantastic) is getting decent exposure please make sure to like, comment and share events and posts that are advertising events and announcements.

The idea that once paid memberships become a thing in 2016 that the PCV have membership giveaways on Facebook was proposed, to be looked at once its applicable.

Spokes of the Wheel is our members only newsletter, produced 8 times a year, around the time of each sabbat. Memberships to the PCV are free in 2015. Sign up now to start receiving your issues of Spokes. 🙂

Members can also request back issues by emailing pagancollectivevic@gmail.com

Happy new year! 2015 has started with a bang here at the PCV. Here are the details of what we have going on at the moment:

Coffee Meetup: PCV committee member Sarah has been a busy bee over the New Years period organising our very first coffee meet! Thanks, Sarah! This will be taking place on Sunday, the 11th of January at the Magpie Cafe in Upwey (see the Facebook event for details). Newbies and any/all branches of Paganism welcome – this will be a friendly, inclusive meet-up, and a chance to connect and chat with other Pagan folk on a variety of paths. We hope to see you there!

Spokes of the Wheel:The Summer edition of Spokes of the Wheel has been sent out to members earlier this week. Let us know what you think! Thanks to Joy Seashell for her Midsummer article this edition. If you would like to contribute articles, artwork etc for the Lammas edition of Spokes, please send it to pagancollectivevic@gmail.com no later than Tuesday, the 27th of January 2015. We would especially love photos/brief paragraphs of what you’ve been up to in Victoria’s pagan scene. 🙂

Next Committee Meeting: The next committee meeting will be taking place on Sunday, the 21st of February in Melbourne. All PCV members are welcome to attend and have their say as to the direction of the Collective. We will confirm the time and venue shortly. You can read minutes of the last meeting here.

AGM: Our AGM will be taking place in June. Details of the exact date will be organised at February’s committee meeting.

Yule Dinner: Planning is already underway for our Pagan Community Yule Dinner, which will be taking place in June. We are hoping to finalise a venue by the February committee meeting, so that we can start selling tickets.

Membership:Membership to the PCV is FREE in 2015. In 2016, we will be introducing a small fee for members who join or renew after the 1st of January 2016. It is our intention to keep these fees low: enough to cover the cost of our website upkeep and admin. We will be discussing the details of these fees at the February committee meeting.
We are currently experiencing issues with the supplier of the stickers we use for our membership packs. As such, we have a large backlog of membership packs to post out! If you have recently joined the PCV and have not yet received your pack, don’t panic! We are hoping to have the situation rectified shortly and will keep our members posted (geddit?) on the situation.
Please note that we have added a clause on the membership page that applies to applicants outside Australia. As we are a non-profit organisation and do not currently charge for membership, we are unable to post the membership packs overseas at this time. People from outside Australia are still very welcome to join up to receive their copies of Spokes of the Wheel, however.

Website: Some changes have been made to the website. We now have a much more comprehensive links section. Please let us know if you find any broken links. 🙂

Phew! That’s all from us for now. Time for an icy pole and a nap in the shade!

The sun sets on the windfarm at Mount Mercer, Western Victoria after a long, scorching day. Photo courtesy of Josie H.

Getting down to business (and lunch!) at the PCV meeting in November 2014. Photo courtesy of Ryan M.

Date: 15th November, 2014, 1pm

Location: Cured café, Mostyn Street, Castlemaine

Present: Josie, Ryan, Mark, Mel, Des, Mei, Joy

Apologies: Charlie

President’s Report – We’ve had overwhelming support from across Victoria, and positive feedback from interstate and even internationally.

Secretary’s report – PCV had a big presence at Mount Franklin this year. People were keen to hear about us and many people joined up that weekend.

Treasurer’s Report – Incoming $0, Outgoing $0. Current balance $0. Josie and Ryan have paid for the membership cards, stickers, website and Incorporation as a donation to the group.

Memberships – 56 new members approved.

Newsletter – Joy to provide Litha article. More submissions needed from other members. Hawthorn’s letters column will not go ahead until we get some letters for him to answer!

Coffee meetups – Is the Upwey meetup still going ahead? Meetups need to occur at venues that are accessible to all and close to public transport. What about Pagans in the Park? Josie/Mei/Mark to organise a Ballarat meetup. Ryan to organise a metro meetup. Both meetups to occur in early 2015. Ryan has a list of themes we could use to direct discussion.

PCV Family Friendly Events – The Kids’ Maypole we hosted at Mount Franklin was a success. Let’s do it again next year, but with more volunteers – Josie and Ryan almost ran out of time as they are also on the MFPG Organisers Committee. Volunteers will have to have a valid WWC card.

Code of Conduct Review – No feedback from members as yet. A drafted “no troublemakers” clause was rejected by the committee. It was agreed that we would adopt the ACCC’s Model Rules of Association for now, and revisit them again at the end of 2015.

Samhain Ritual 2015 – Will be hosted by Seline. What do we need to contribute as an organisation? What will attendees need to contribute? Date? We will need to check all this with Seline before the next committee meeting.

Yule Dinner 2015 – We brainstormed!
Music – Des and Mel to sort. A variety of Pagan/Pagan-ish acts
Food – 3 course dinner covered by admission price. Awards – similar to the TasPA’s Silver Broomstick awards. Mark to brainstorm categories.
Raffle – But what could we raffle off?
Venue – Ryan to investigate costings. The Clarkeville Hotel was suggested as a venue to investigate.
Ticket Price – around $50 for dinner/drinks? We need to figure out the minimum amount of tickets we’d need to sell to break even (and cancel the event well in advance if we couldn’t sell that many tickets).
Organisers will need to investigate these things and report back at the February meeting.

Communications channel for committee – It was unanimously agreed that Slack was not an effective tool for the committee to communicate. From now on committee conversations outside of committee meetings are to take place via email. Emails to be cc’d to pagancollectivevic@gmail.com. Obviously major decisions cannot be made via email. They must be voted upon at committee meetings as usual.

Members’ survey – Mark suggested a surveymonkey/google forms survey would be a good way to gauge what members want/need from the PCV, and would ensure we were directing our energy to where it was required. The committee voted in favour of this. Mark/Mei to organise a members’ survey and present the questions at the next meeting.